Requiem
by sleepy golem
Summary: There's no need to suffer.


**Requiem **-There's no need to suffer.

* * *

><p>Darkness.<p>

That's all there was. The sun had set hours ago, its scarlet tendrils snubbed out by the penetrating and inevitable night. The only sound was the slight rustling of the breeze through the forest. Despite the apparent tranquility of the forest, there was an almost undetectable disturbance in the now still air. The disturbance brought with it an ominous atmosphere as it rippled through the darkness like a pebble in the ocean, there but, at the same time, not. It gave the feeling of being not quite of this existence as it glided with a delicate determination, knowing its destination but in no hurry to arrive there.

The ripple emerged from under the tightly packed trees into the wan light of the full moon, which was now hanging at its peak in the starless sky. And in the dim light, the ripple was revealed to be a lone Duskull floating through the silent and still forest. The Duskull abruptly stopped at the top of a small hill, one that overlooked the well worn path many travelers took to escape the suffocating stillness and danger of the forest that many wild Pokemon call home. It was almost ironic that this road ended at the polished, glass doors of a Pokemon Center.

The Pokemon Center was deserted; except for a single man, whose aged and weather-beaten face was contorted with worry. He was sitting with his head in his hands and, it seemed, trying his hardest not to make his sobs audible. However, this scene was of no interest to the Duskull and the ghost glided around to the backside of the building. On this side, there was a single lit window; peering in, the Duskull saw that the room on the other side of the glass was some kind of hospital room. The Pokemon lying in the bed was a sorry sight. In the light of the moon it saw the dull, graying fur; the limp tail hanging past the bedsheets, and the various tubing and wires that connected the Pokemon to a complicated-looking machine that beeped softly, indicating life.

The Duskull, being the ghost Pokemon that it is, slipped through the glass of the window, as if it wasn't even there. The pulse of the dying Pokemon's heartbeat gradually slowed as the Duskull came near. Once the Duskull was floating right above the Pokemon's heart, did it cease to exist. And as it lay there, dead, the Duskull uttered a low, solomn chant. It was as if it was _praying_ for the soul of the deceased Pokemon, but the sound was soon drowned out by the louder tone of the beeping machine, as the dead Pokemon's heart rate flat-lined.

In an instant, the Duskull grabbed the hand of the dead Pokemon and started making it's way back to the window. As it reached the glass, the Duskull turned into the terrified face of the Pokemon's soul. It's eyes screamed to be allowed back into it's body; it trembled in fear of being taken away by this ghostly Pokemon. But the Duskull wasn't swayed, nor did it slacken its grip a single bit. The Duskull resumed its low chant, and the Pokemon's resistance lessened. With the newly deceased Pokemon's senses dulled, the Duskull pulled it through the window and into the darkness of the night.

They had vanished just before the door of the hospital room slammed open.

"Pikachu!" came the strangled sob of the man from before. Seeing the dead body of his lifelong partner caused him to become inconsolable. The Nurse Joy in charge rushed at the sound of his voice and took him back to the waiting room while her Blissey aides covered the body with a white sheet.

"Please Mr. Ketchum, you have to control yourself. I know that this is a difficult time for you... but I believe it was for the best." the Nurse chose her words with care.

"The best? You think that my best friend dying was for the best?" anger welled up inside of him.

Nurse Joy winced, but then took on a more authoritative tone, "Please Mr. Ketchum, there are other patients here. You must be considerate of them." Her expression softened at the pitiful state the man was in. "As you know... Pikachu has been ill for a long time. Do you think that it would have wanted to remain living, in pain? Grasping at mere threads, of the life it once had?" She left the man to tend to the dead body of his Pikachu.

"For the best..." Ash Ketchum repeated the words of the Nurse.

* * *

><p>Incidentally, the Duskull often thought the same thing. As it guided the poor souls of dead Pokemon, many of them were scared and resisted. They pleaded with it to return them to life. The ones Duskull always sent for were the sick ones, the frail ones, the ones in too much pain and sorrow to even dream of continuing to live. And yet, they always pleaded to be returned to life once their wish for death had been fulfilled.<p>

Duskull never understood it, and frankly, stopped trying.

It just went on it's way, chanting it's haunting tune, waiting for the next Pokemon to wish for death.


End file.
